Trailer hitch assemblies are traditionally designed to be mounted to vehicles to allow the towing of trailers or the like. A receiver opening or cavity is often used for the receipt of a hitch or draw bar that carries a hitch ball or other means of allowing connection to a towed vehicle. The receiver opening comes in various sizes, such as to accommodate various towing capabilities. For example, receiver-type trailer hitch assemblies are typically offered with a square receiver opening of 1.25 inches (32 mm) for Class I/II, 2 inches (51 mm) for Class III/IV/V, and some Class V hitches are available in 2.5 inches (64 mm) opening sizes.
When not in use towing a trailer or other towed vehicle, often the receiver opening remains generally exposed to the environment. Covers have been provided for insertion into the receiver opening to improve outward appearances and to provide certain utility. A disadvantage of these previously known covers is that a cover may only be capable of appropriately fitting into a specifically sized hitch receiver opening, i.e., the cover comes in just one size to accommodate a correspondingly sized hitch receiver opening. This may limit the use of such covers and may require a user to purchase a plurality of covers to fit each applicable hitch receiver opening. Still further, typical one-piece molded designed hitch covers are limited in their available uses, which may force the manufacturer to create different hitch covers, unique packaging and additional inventory tracking systems.
Prior art designs may also require a relatively large packaging size such that a limited number of covers may be displayed or stored in a given size shelf space, especially those hitch covers that are a one-piece molded design. The large packaging required creates an inefficient use of sale space and may increase the cost of displaying and offering for sale such prior art designs.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved hitch cover with a mounting system that may be capable of selectively attaching to hitch receiver openings of various sizes and/or that may provide modularity. There is also a need to reduce the packaging size of a hitch cover so that more may be displayed or stocked in a given size shelf space. Still further, there is a need to increase the efficiency of the packaging and the display of such in offering the product for sale. Still further, there is a need for a decorative hitch cover base (usually furnished with graphics, decals, and other art) to be able easily switched to a different decorative base of shape and form. Such a decorative hitch cover may give end users more flexibility and variety of choices to express themselves without the necessity of purchasing additional hitch covers with a predefined tube size, design and shape.